Five weeks after the Legislature passed a budget that promised to close a $19 billion budget shortfall, California has sunk back into yet another fiscal crisis, this time facing a $26 billion gap that is posing a major new challenge for the incoming governor, Jerry Brown, and seems almost certain to force deep cuts in a state already reeling from three years of financial turmoil.
The departing governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has called a special session of the Legislature for Dec. 6 to begin dealing with one part of the problem: a projected $6 billion shortfall in the $126 billion budget passed in October, a record 100 days late. Mr. Schwarzenegger’s aides said the governor, a Republican who has fought repeatedly with Democrats in pushing through deep spending cuts, will propose another round of reductions to get the state through the end of this fiscal year in June.
“There’s no more easy stuff to cut,” Susan Kennedy, Mr. Schwarzenegger’s chief of staff, said Monday. “We are cutting into bone now.”
“There’s no more easy stuff to cut,†Susan Kennedy, Mr. Schwarzenegger’s chief of staff, said Monday. “We are cutting into bone now.â€
That’s when you know the politicans are for sure lying through their teeth when they tell you “everything has been cut to the bone”. Part of the problem is all the Stimulus Money is gone and now they have to face the Piper they should have been facing two years ago.
Nothing to cut? How about in-state college tuition for illegal aliens, just for starters.
#1–They are trying to manufacture a budget crisis so they can go to Congress for a bailout. But, it won’t get through the Senate in the lame duck Congress, and after January 3, its a dead duck. And I just thought of two easy things they could cut–reduce public employees’ salaries by the amount of union dues they pay and stop bi-lingual free education. Susan needs to give me a call because I bet I can think of alot more.
David, they don’t want to hear from you or any other American Citizen because they know the input they would get would scare them to death. This is a puppet show of massive proportions, and the puppet masters are doing anything they can to hold on their power.
Everyone should google the Senate Bill S510 on Food Safety. Has nothing to do with California but would authorize the Fed Govt to prevent home gardens and Farmer’s Markets.
I saw the federal government is “loaning” the state $40 million a day. What is the chance that the state of California [i]won’t[/i] say, “Sorry, but we can’t pay you back. Charge it to the next generation.”
I love how governments want to live with huge deficits because they ‘cannot cut any more out’ and then wonder why private citizens don’t want to live with their own means, when it is in fact private citizens that are forced to actually “(cut) into the bone.”
ALL programs, 10% cuts across the board. Discomfort for some. Problem solved.
Ah, the joys of a one-party government will once again begin when Governor Moonbeam takes over on January 3rd. A Republican Congress will be delighted to help out California. California voters have a flat learning curve. And the band played on. Statmann
Moonbeam, Boxer, and Pelosi, are the winners. Let them figure it out.
Everyone that voted against them ought to start packing. Take your tax dollars elsewhere. The place is a sump. Warm and sunny yes, but still a sump.
Folks don’t have to move to take their tax dollars elsewhere. The Fed’s are doing that work (taking California’s tax dollar’s elsewhere). Also find the proposal to cut bilingual ed interesting….nearly 50% of California’s residents (legal or otherwise) are Latino; and China pretty much own’s this country or is on the road to doing so. Not educating the children (especially in a language they already speak) makes no sense at all. And they will learn English perfectly well. I see hundreds of California children every week and a rarely meet a school age kid that doesn’t speak English perfectly well.
Can we kick California out of the Union before they come to us hat in hand? As Robroy pointed out they are bleeding us to the tune of 40 big ones per DAY!
I agree with David Keller on both counts. A huge part of our problem here in this state is the fact that our taxes are so high that businesses can’t afford to invest here, and business growth has been stagnant. The rate of businesses moving out of state is above the national average, and unemployment has skyrocketed, with people hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Free education for undocumented immigrants has got to go, state salaries need to be brought into line with private industry, state retirement benefits need to be brought into line with private retirement schemes, and the power of the public employee unions needs to be smashed before we can have any chance at solving our financial problems.
And we did make a valiant effort not to elect Jerry Brown, and to dump Barbara Boxer, but we got outvoted by the spendthrift ‘tax and spend’ Democrats. At least Nancy Pelosi lost her job as Speaker, and will be the Minority Whip (drat!).